The California Horse Racing Board adopted a budget for its 2024-2025 fiscal year that will require greater contributions from a majority of tracks, but lower fees for Santa Anita. The board was forced to reach a decision at its monthly meeting on Thursday in advance of the start of the fiscal year on July 1. The budget was finalized less than two weeks after the closure of Golden Gate Fields in Albany, Calif., which contributed approximately 12 percent of the regulatory agency’s funding for the current fiscal year. To offset the loss of Golden Gate, tracks throughout the state have been forced to pay the difference. The board has a projected budget of $18.2 million for the upcoming fiscal year, divided into direct costs consisting of salaries for stewards and official veterinarians and laboratory drug testing. The board ruled that all tracks must incur their share of those costs, estimated at $5.5 million through the year. A larger portion of the budget covers salaries for agency employees and the annual operation of the agency. :: Subscribe to the DRF Post Time Email Newsletter: Get the news you need to play today's races!  “We’d like to have everyone pay their direct costs, and indirect costs are paid proportionally,” chairman Greg Ferraro said prior to the vote. In the current fiscal year, and at times in the past, some tracks were not meeting their shares of direct costs, racing board executive director Scott Chaney said in an interview after the meeting. Contributions from major tracks, such as Del Mar and Santa Anita, covered those fees, he said. For the fiscal year ending this month, Del Mar and Santa Anita provided 75 percent of the board’s funding. For the upcoming fiscal year, those tracks will provide approximately 67 percent of funding. As a result, Santa Anita’s fees will decline. Del Mar’s fees will rise slightly from this year because the track is hosting the Breeders’ Cup in November, an event that generates massive handle. The budget was approved by a 6-1 vote, with vice chairman Oscar Gonzales casting the only dissenting vote. In the proposed budget for 2024-2025, Santa Anita will pay a projected $7.9 million, down from $8.9 million. The Los Alamitos evening meeting will pay more than $1.28 million, a significant increase from $593,130 this year. Del Mar’s portion of the proposed budget rises from $4.48 million to $4.97 million. “It’s a major change for the Los Al Quarter Horses,” Chaney said toward the end of the hearing. The six fair meetings throughout the state will all have higher contributions. The Golden State Racing meeting at Pleasanton, which is projected to have 99 days of racing to replace Golden Gate on the Northern California calendar, will pay approximately $1.67 million, or 22 percent less than the contribution from Golden Gate this year. The board based its projected contributions on a handle of $2.54 billion in the upcoming fiscal year, down from a projected $2.81 billion in the current fiscal year. Tracks throughout California have cut purses in the last year because of a downward trend in handle. The board contemplated taking a multi-year approach to its budget, but moved away from that idea in lieu of widespread changes California racing has endured in the last year. The intent to close Golden Gate was announced last July, causing widespread uncertainty about the future of racing in Northern California. “The landscape is changing so quickly that making a commitment [beyond] the next fiscal year is impossible,” Chaney said during the meeting. The board heard testimony for more than an hour from track officials regarding different proposals for funding, with arguments presented based on a percentage of handle or by number of racing days conducted at each track. The board reached its decision on Thursday based largely on a percentage of handle. Track officials had met numerous times in recent weeks without reaching a compromise before Thursday’s meeting. Even without a formula based on racing days, there is concern that smaller organizations, notably the Sacramento harness meeting, will no longer be able to operate at the same level as the past year. Chaney said at the meeting that a decision to reduce racing days would not lead to significantly reduced costs. * Earlier at the meeting, the board approved race meetings through the summer – a 31-day season at Del Mar from July 20 to Sept. 8; nine days of racing at Cal-Expo in Sacramento from July 12-28; a nine-day meeting at the Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rosa from Aug. 2-18; and an eight-day season at the Humboldt County Fair in Ferndale from Aug. 23 to Sept. 8. :: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures The Humboldt fair meeting will include a fourth week at Fresno on Sept. 13-15, followed by the remainder of the Fresno fair meeting, which was not discussed on Thursday. The application for that meeting will be discussed at the board’s August meeting. * Thursday’s meeting marked the end of a five-year term for commissioner Wendy Mitchell, who was appointed in 2019 at a time when the state was dealing with widespread fatalities at Santa Anita. Mitchell was part of a reform-minded wing of the board that fought to aggressively enact changes related to greater horse safety and oversight of training and racing. Mitchell, who operates a consulting firm, has been appointed to the California Medical Board. She previously held a position on the influential California Coast Commission. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.